


The Time That Is Given Us

by ladymac111



Series: The Doctor and the Teacher [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Abduction, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Berlin (City), Gen, Nazis, Physics, Science, World War II, because of course aliens were involved, gross abuse of history I'm sure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-29
Updated: 2013-01-29
Packaged: 2017-11-27 10:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/660747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladymac111/pseuds/ladymac111
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim and the Doctor accidentally find themselves in Hitler's Berlin, and non-interference is going to be harder than it seems.</p><p>Rating for strong language and possibly disturbing (but historically accurate) themes, and action violence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time That Is Given Us

**Author's Note:**

> I went about this story a bit backwards. I wrote the very end first, a while ago, and then had to figure out what the hell led up to it. I had the basic concept pretty quickly, but the details were a long time coming.
> 
> Then I listened to "Copenhagen", and I listened to it again, and I let everything stew, and I poked around on Wikipedia, and I watched "Ken Burns: The War", and finally I had something. I'm trying to make the historical parts of this as accurate as possible, but there are bound to be some errors. If you happen to be this sort of history buff, please correct me! I love this era but I'm a complete amateur (and, as an American, know very little about WWII outside of the US's involvement), though I know the physics pretty well. My understanding of the actual history of this comes from Wikipedia and "Copenhagen" and a college course that mostly focused on the architecture of Berlin. (The class wasn't great for history but I can tell you all about the best Currywurst cart by the Oranienburger Tor U-Bahn station, and the fancy new dome on the Reichstag.)
> 
> I am still working on the middle, and pieces will get posted as I get them done. This is a WIP but I don't think it will get abandoned. If all else fails, I'll give you the short version of the middle and then post the end.
> 
> There's a little bit of German in chapter 1. Translations are in the end note.

“Halt! Stehen bleiben!”

Tim and the Doctor both stopped immediately, and slowly raised their hands above their heads. Tim shot a frantic look at the Doctor. “What year is it, _exactly_?” he hissed. “And why are we in Germany?”

“It was supposed to be Paris in 1955,” the Doctor whispered. “And how do you know it's Germany?”

“He yelled at us in German. Northern dialect, I think. So not Austria or Switzerland.”

“How'd you know it was German? The TARDIS is right here, you should have heard English.”

“I speak a little. I guess it doesn't translate if I understand anyway. And there's pretty much no mistaking what he said.”

“Drehen Sie um!” the voice commanded, as a bright light fell on them, casting stark shadows on the brick wall. “Langsam. Hände hoch.”

They did as they were told, squinting into the light as one of two silhouetted figures came close. Tim's blood ran cold when he recognized the red band around the guard's arm. “Haben Sie Papiere?”

“Ja, mein Freund,” Tim gasped, trying to keep the panic from his voice. “Mein Freund hat unsere Papiere.”

The guard looked at him oddly, and spoke slowly and with a thick accent. “You are … English?”

“Ah, no,” the Doctor said quickly. “Sorry, my friend here was just practising.”

“Practising?” Tim heard fluent English now – the TARDIS's translation must have finally kicked in, once he hit the limit of his German abilities.

“Yes,” Tim said. “Just practising my English. For fun.”

“It's not very funny. Let me see your papers. Ah! Slowly.”

Tim kept his hands raised as the Doctor reached carefully into his trouser pocket and produced the slip of psychic paper. The guard's eyes widened. “I beg your pardon, gentlemen. But I hope you understand why I had to stop you. Do you need an escort to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut?”

“If you wouldn't mind,” the Doctor said, pocketing his paper again.

The guard nodded briskly at his associate, who turned the bright light off. Tim blinked, trying to adjust to the contrast. “We're taking these two to Herr Diebner.”

“But it's the middle of the night. What are they doing out?”

“You know we're not supposed to question Diebner's men. Come on.”

“Berlin, then,” Tim murmured as they got into the back of the car. “Not quite Paris.”

“Not quite 1955 either,” the Doctor agreed. “I'm guessing it's probably … 1939, and we're attending the meeting that Kurt Diebner called to kick off the Nazi nuclear program.”

“Shit,” Tim breathed as the car roared to life and started to move out towards the main road, leaving the TARDIS behind, tucked into its alley. “So this is one of those times where we really can't say _anything_ , yeah?”

“Oh, definitely.” The Doctor turned a bit to watch Berlin go by. “Definitely don't mention how much better the Reichstag looks with a glass dome. Or the holocaust memorial. Or anything about … you know, _degenerate people_.” He whispered the last bit, and Tim cast a furtive glance at their hosts, who didn't appear to have heard.

“So we go to this thing, and get back to the TARDIS as quickly as possible?”

The Doctor licked his lips and looked back out the window. “That's the plan.”

“Remember where we parked?”

“Off Oranienburgerstraße, near Friedrichstraße, if I'm not mistaken.” He twisted to look out the back window as they turned. “Yeah. Unter den Linden is about a kilometre south of here, and the Reichstag is two kilometres southwest. We're north of the Spree right now.”

“You know the geography pretty well.”

“I spent some time here. It's really a lovely city, a decade or so after the wall comes down. Very vibrant. Great currywurst. Maybe when we're done here I'll take you there.”

Tim gave him a halfhearted grimace that might have been a smile. “We'll see.”

**Author's Note:**

> “Halt! Stehen bleiben!” = Stop! Stay where you are!
> 
> “Drehen Sie um!” = Turn around!
> 
> “Langsam. Hände hoch.” = Slowly. Hands up.
> 
> “Haben Sie Papiere?” = Do you have papers?
> 
> “Ja, mein Freund ... Mein Freund hat unsere Papiere.” = Yes, my friend ... My friend has our papers.


End file.
